Taking an Oath

Citizens born in the United States are not required to take an oath of allegiance.We are citizens and that's it. Our loyalty is unquestioned and assumed,a gift of the place of our birth on United States soil.

How different for ancient Athenians who wanted to become citizens, andcitizenship was open only to males above the age of 18. But all whowanted to be citizens had to swear the oath even though they were bornin Athens. Being born in Athens did not matter. You were not a citizenuntil you said the words of the oath. They swore the oath before all inthe theatre, and received in front of all their sacred arms for defenseof the nation. Here is the text of the oath:

"I will never bring reproach upon my hallowed arms nor will I desert thecomrade at whose side I stand, but I will defend our altars and ourhearths, single-handed or supported by many. My native land I will notleave a diminished heritage but greater and better than when I receivedit. I will obey whoever is in authority and submit to the establishedlaws and all others which the people shall harmoniously enact. If anyonetries to overthrow the constitution and disobeys it, I will not permithim, but will come to its defense single-handed or with the support ofall. I will honor the religion of my fathers. Let the gods be mywitness."

The oath then goes on to list several gods as witnesses to the words ofthe oath, in particular the father of the gods, Zeus himself.To the ancient Athenian this oath was a civil and military oath. Theoath-taker promises to fight for home and country. I particularly likethe part about leaving the country better off than you found it. Perhapswe should require an economic oath for US citizens in trying to balanceour overwhelming debt. The Athenian oath binds the citizen to supportthe national institutions of the country and take up military duties ifnecessary. The gods witnessed the oath taking along with the citizen'spromise to honor the gods.

I like the part about fighting anyone who tries to overthrow theconstitution. And in my humble view, this oath is not too different forthose who signed our Declaration of Independence, might we say, the oathof Thomas Jefferson:"We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and oursacred honor." I thought you might enjoy this reflection on oaths andcitizenship.

I have made of copy of the classical Greek version of the Athenian oath.If anyone would like a copy, just let me know.

Bailey, Billups, Basketball and kids

Some say Denver is a great city because we have the Broncos and the Rockies. Others boast that Denver is great because we have the Stock Show, Coors Field or the Pepsi Center and the Democratic Convention. Still others opine that Denver’s greatness comes from our banks and great corporations - economic engines which drive the financial machinery of our city.

Friday, August 8th, 2009, I saw the greatness of our city up close and in your face.

John Bailey invited me to his Basketball Camp with Chauncey Billups at Denver’s Hiawatha Davis Recreation Center in Northeast Denver.

I got there just in time to hear John and the other coaches lining up the hundreds of kids to do their warm-ups prior to basketball practices. Most of the kids are from Northeast Denver, but many are from other parts of the city. He was not there Friday, but Simon Peter O’Hanlon who grew up playing city basketball in Northeast Park Hill, said John Bailey’s program gets petitions from parents from the suburbs so their kids can learn the ‘in your face, rough and tumble’ inner city Northeast Denver style that only Bailey and company can evoke from fledgling ball players. John barks out orders like an army drill sergeant, and the kids quickly, dutifully and obediently get in line and follow his orders because underneath the gruff exterior, the kids know John really cares about them. The kids know he cares about how well they are going to improve their game, but down deeper he challenges the kids to “know themselves” and stretch their limitations in challenging their own limits. The lessons learned on the court at Hiawatha Davis Recreation Center last Friday will help each of them with all of life’s challenges down the line. That’s what the ancient Greeks said the purpose of education itself was: “Know thyself.”

Denver’s own, Chauncey Billups, Most Valuable Player in the 2004 National Basketball Association playoffs, and Denver Nugget champion, easily and gracefully led the students in their stretching exercises and they all eagerly followed this great rolemodel. Then John introduced the younger assistant coach and knew every one by name. The participants enthusiastically applauded the good work of the coaches. The coaches knew John cared about them as much as the kids involved in the program. Then the players and coaches divided up into working units and marched out to the ball courts with temporary basketball hoops distributed evenly on the ten courts.

I was standing in the doorway trying to see everything, and Coach Frank Merritt waved me to come and stand next to him in the shade closer to the courts so I could see better. He is a big bear of a man with a serious exterior but a welcoming and jovial heart. So I stood next to him, as I did last year, and we watched the morning’s excitement. Every time a kid passed by, “Hi, Coach Frank,” they would say. He knew every one of those kids by name. He could tell you all about them. Talk about building confidence in a student. I met Chauncey briefly and mentioned I taught with Lonnie Porter, legendary basketball coach for Regis, for many years at Regis University. I told Chauncey that whenever I had a basketball player in my class, Lonnie would call from time to time to see if he was attending class, and how was he doing. It’s that same caring and attention to individual players that I saw from Chauncey, John Bailey and Coach Frank which generates an over 95% graduation rate among Regis ball players. And the players in my classes knew Coach Porter cared about them and their performance now, in my class, and in the future.

That day, John Bailey, Chauncey Billups and Coach Frank Merritt shared their love of competition and zest for life with their students at the Hiawatha Davis Recreation Center. Simon Peter O’Hanlon, who wasn’t there Friday, told me long ago that John Bailey has saved kid’s lives with the program he runs at Davis Recreation Center. And all things considered, that’s why Denver is a great city.

Health Care Debate, a Denver Perspective

Missed in the national debate on national health care reform is the scandal of the on-going subsidy of Denver taxdollars to businesses which can’t or won’t provide health insurance for their workers. Let me explain how this tax shift takes place. After you hear the story, I hope it disturbs you as much as it does me.

In Denver, as the enforcement arm of the Prevailing Wage ordinance, the Denver Auditor's Office is aware that many contractors on Denver construction and other projects do not provide health insurance for their employees. And we regularly hear stories of what happens to many of these workers when injured or sick - they simply go to the Emergency Room at Denver Health. Denver taxpayers then pick up the health care cost for that company's workers. Do we even hear a thank you here? In the current debate on national health care, those who oppose reform don't mention this tax payer shift - this subsidized health care, this real version of socialized health care. Why? Because this tax shift is currently part of the unofficial but well-entrenched benefit system.

This ‘benefit’ has not been well documented nor adequately measured. In large part this is because it is difficult and time-intensive to quantify. However, Denver taxpayers have a right to know how much this health care tax shift in our city is costing them. That's transparency and accountability. This should be part of the debate, and I want to make sure the Denver taxpayers' voice is heard. So, while it will take some time to do so, we will be looking into this cost-shifting – unless of course the stars line up and the Congress moves on universal coverage and the question becomes moot. We could only hope.

Ireland, Students and Economic Reality

For the past few days, I have been wending my way through Ireland with a dozen Regis University students. Though I don’t teach anymore (since my election as Auditor) I still enjoy my annual trip to Ireland with Regis students. What a joy it is and they are.

So far on this trip, we have heard the mystical Latin chants of Benedictines at Glenstal Abbey in County Tipperary. We have climbed the winding stairs to the top of James Joyce's Martello tower in Sandymount (South Dublin), the opening scene of Ulysses his remarkable novel. We lined up to behold the magnificent calligraphy of the ancient Book of Kells at Trinity Library. We climbed around the sad and mournful Kilmainham Jail, where so many patriots died in the 1916 rebellion against English rule. A few of us visited the Irish-Jewish Museum and thought of Robert and Ben Briscoe, the only father-son team to be Dublin's mayors in the thousand years they have been keeping track. We attended a rousing and energetic performance of "Riverdance," the step-dancing show, so beloved by my daughter, Meaghan Kathleen.But with all the joy and youthful enthusiasm I am able to share with these students, the weariness of the world is also still with us. Some one said that when America sneezes, the rest of the world catches cold. Well, in my view, from here now, America has a bad cold but many other parts of the world have pneumonia. Like our own country, Ireland is in the throws of the world's economic downturn. The guard at the Book of Kells told me visitor attendance is down 10%. The newspapers report an 11% downturn in tourism; a key industry for Ireland experiencing hard times too. My cousin, Kitty Nyhan Caprani, owns a bed and breakfast, called the Chester Beatty Inn in Ashford, County Wicklow, south of Dublin. She told me that the recession is "biting their business badly." Thousands are out of work with no quick recovery in sight soon.However, there is some positive in the bleakness; Anna and Rory O'Conneely, venerable innkeepers here on the island of Inish Oirr, the most easterly island of the Aran chain off Galway Bay are holding steady. Rory told me that business is good but not down. One the Regis business students on the trip said, "outstanding product and remarkable personal attention and service." That's why loyal customers keep coming back from the Irish main land to this charming spot year after year even in these troubled times.Right now the students are up the road at the city cemetery gracefully and deft-fully sliding through an ancient church window. Legend says that if you can fit through the window of that ancient and sandy church, you will get into heaven. I was able to fit my head and right shoulder through the small window. Ahhh, well.

So I guess the lesson for me as Auditor on this trip is that we have to work hard to improve city financial processes to save all the tax dollars we can. And we have to continue building trust among city agencies and workers to give ourselves the confidence that indeed we can find our way out of this recession. I know we can make it through with the help of the windows of economic creativity which present themselves to us.

Audit Committee improves City accountability

When I was first elected Auditor, the mayor made all the appointments to the city's audit committee. I was pleased that he appointed me, the Auditor, to the audit committee. Otherwise, I would not have been able to serve on the committee at that time. He also appointed two cabinet members to serve as well. At my suggestion he appointed two independent auditors. Tim O'Brien, CPA, and former Colorado State Auditor was appointed at my suggestion. I had worked with Tim for his twelve years as State Auditor during my service on the Legislative Audit Committee while serving in our State Senate. The mayor also reappointed Bonney Lopez, CPA, to the committee. But the committee still lacked independence. With the exception of Mr. O’Brien, Mr. Lopez and me, the committee was completely made up of members of the mayor’s administration; it was virtually was made up of ‘members of the company’, so to speak. Anyone here remember ENRON?

With the passage of the charter changes addressing reforms to the Denver Auditor's Office, the committee truly became an independent audit committee. The charter language did not allow the mayor to appoint members of his cabinet or other city employees to the committee. The mayor, the city council and I each appoint two members to the committee but all of those appointments must come from outside the city government. As the Auditor, I serve as Audit committee chair. Under the General Standards section of the Government Accounting Standards which guides all of our audits at the city, independence is the first quality which must rule any auditor and audit process.

I am pleased to report that we now have a very strong and independent audit committee. The audit committee members vigorously question administration staff as to how audit recommendations will be implemented. And the audit committee schedules follow-up sessions with city agencies to see how the agency is doing on implementing the benchmarks set by a particular audit. Under the leadership of our new and independent audit committee, our outside Auditor BKD, noted marked improvement to city financial practices.

The most recent external audit of the city’s financial statements, overseen by the audit committee, and the accompanying management letter prepared by BKD that notes observations with regard to the city’s internal controls related to financial reporting has once again shown improvement over the previous year. This is a direct result of the role our independent audit committee plays.

Years of planning, negotiating and hard work have paid off with high marks for accountability for tax dollars thanks to the dedication and diligence of Denver's Independent Audit Committee.

Up the Republic

Every year on the Fourth of July, at around noon on our national Independence Day, the staff at Four Mile Historic Park in Southeast Denver honors me by asking me to lead the reading of the Declaration which Mr. Jefferson so finely crafted 233 years ago this year. “Happy Birthday, America. Let’s make sure King George can hear us,” I shouted. The assembly happily and loudly joined in on the chorus.

I enjoy this yearly communal reading as much as anything I do as Auditor for the people of Denver. Everyone else reading uses a microphone, and a Thomas Jefferson look alike, started us off on the microphone. He started the reading: “When in the course of Human events….” I however read without the microphone because I wanted the patriots gathered at the park for this reading to experience what it may have been like to hear the Declaration read pre-microphone. Everyone, from the municipal band stand to the outer park buildings, nodded, saying they could hear me just fine as I listed the main principles leading up to the grievances we had with the way King George III was treating our early colonial citizens. Then folks line up to read the crimes of King George from their own pocket copies. They could not wait to be counted to stand for the Declaration, young and old. They read the strong active verbs with vigor: He has refused, forbidden and dissolved, obstructed, affected, combined, abdicated this or that. We all finally agreed that the King was, “unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”

We handed out about 100 copies of the Liberty Day copies of the Declaration, and then regular patriots came up to read a complaint or two against the King. “He has made Judges dependent on his will alone…” “Down with King George, down with tyranny, down with tyrants,” the crowd shouted much to the delight of all. Another youngster loudly and forcefully read: “He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” Sounds like another government I know. “Down with King George.” At the end of the reading, after the clear rational case against the King, I asked all present to rededicate themselves to this Declaration and pledge in their own way to give personal support of this great document. No royal titles here, thank you.

This may seem corny, but you can honor this document by reading it aloud, by studying the principles found in the declaration, by getting involved in your government. Only then can we guarantee that this government will be “…of, for and by the people.” If you would like a pocket copy of the Declaration and the constitution which you can keep over your heart like I do, please email me at dennis.gallagher@denvergov.org and I will get you a copy. By way of symbolic dedication, sign your own copy as did those framers who signed for their lives and sacred honor. “Fellow patriots, let’s let the old King and any tyrant hear it: “Up with the Republic”

Stimulus Spending and Accountability

If the public is to trust that the stimulus dollars are being spent the way the should, then the public must be confident that there is significant independent oversight of that spending. Transparency and accountability must be the watchwords.

Today, I met with Senator Mark Udall to talk to him about some federal legislation that would provide the necessary resources to state and local governments to ensure that oversight. When the dollars are being spent and administered in Denver or Colorado, then the oversight must be here as well. Watching from afar, the watchdog may only see the big picture and not the critical details.

In the Denver Auditor's office, we have cut our budget by over 7%. That means that not only do we have fewer resources to accomplish our regular audit schedule, but that we really don't have the resources to monitor the stimulus spending the way it should be monitored – and that is an unacceptable situation.

As I said, this is about transparency and accountability, and that only comes from independent oversight.

I hope the Senate will move this legislation soon, so that the monitoring can begin soon. We don't want to be in a situation of closing the barn doors after..............

I tried to meet with Senator Bennet, but unfortunately he could not fit me into his schedule. However I left him a letter outlining my position and request.

If any of you are so inclined, please call the good Senators and ask them to support this important legislation. It has already passed the US House, so it only needs final Senate passage.

If you would like to read the letters themselves and other information, please go to
www.denvergov.org/auditor.